NEIAP Delivers a Necessary Network for Ambulatory Care Pharmacists

Jennifer Goldman, PharmD, CDCES, BC‑ADM, FCCP, professor of pharmacy practice at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and clinical pharmacist at Well Life, reflects on the New England Institute of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists (NEIAP), an organization she co-founded in 2008 alongside fellow clinician Laura Bogdanski after realizing how isolating it could be as one of few ambulatory care pharmacists within a health system.

Goldman describes NEIAP's educational programming as immediately actionable for pharmacists who are managing complex patients across areas such as obesity, lipids, diabetes, and emerging technology, while emphasizing that the organization's greatest value may be the professional relationships it fosters—connections that lead to collaboration, research, and mentorship among pharmacists who might otherwise work in isolation. She also shares the personal history behind NEIAP's founding and notes that the organization has grown to more than 200 members over its 20-year history, now welcoming fellows, residents, and pharmacists moving into the ambulatory care space.

Looking ahead to the September meeting in Boston, Goldman expresses excitement for what she expects will be a meaningful gathering that honors NEIAP's legacy while continuing to serve the profession's evolving needs.

Pharmacy Times: From a professional development perspective, what clinical or practice management skills can pharmacists expect to develop by engaging with NEIAP and attending its meeting in September?

Jennifer Goldman, PharmD, RPh, CDCES, BC-ADM, FCCP: I'm very proud of New England Institute of Ambulatory Care Pharmacists, also known as NEIAP, because our educational programming really involves providing practical information that pharmacists can take back immediately to their practices and to their teaching—basically, their professional life—and utilize that immediately. So a lot of [pharmacists], they're in collaborative practices, and they're in various health systems, oftentimes, [they work with] complex patients, so what we're talking about is obesity, lipids, diabetes, and technology, and all of these things that can really impact patient care, outcomes in patient care...[not only are they] an important part of that team, but it also will help them meet each other...creat[ing] relationships that sometimes, if someone is in a health system when they have a dozen clinical pharmacists, well, they can talk to each other. But maybe there's only one or two [ambulatory care pharmacists], and it can be isolating. Now you have a network of pharmacists that you can collaborate with, you can pick up the phone and call, send an email, or discuss patients with. So [NEIAP] is not just the education, but the relationship building is quite important.

Pharmacy Times: NEIAP serves ambulatory care pharmacists specifically—what are the distinct challenges or opportunities in ambulatory care that make having a dedicated professional community and annual gathering so important?

Goldman: Ambulatory care pharmacists, this is growing. I've been doing this for over 30 years, so I have watched it just continue to advance across the country, but particularly in New England, which is certainly special to me, because I'm from that area. I think that having that opportunity to interact with each other, find out what everyone else is doing, make relationships, so that you have someone to bounce things off of, [and] maybe research, maybe write a paper with, maybe do a presentation with. So, [NEIAP] really will create an opportunity for people to be together, to reach everyone, to talk to each other, learn best practices. How do you write a collaborative practice agreement if you don't have one in place? How do you get started in this type of opportunity in those that are already embedded? How do you bill? How do you collaborate? How do you, you know, do all those things?

So, I think it's going to be extremely valuable. I can't wait, [the September meeting] is going to come really quickly. I think that people are going to love it, and they're going to get to meet new people, as well as reconnect with a lot of their colleagues.

Pharmacy Times: Can you share some of the history of NEIAP, why it started, and its evolution? How does it impact pharmacy now?

Goldman: NEIAP was a conversation between myself and a wonderfully amazing clinician, Laura Bogdanski. I remember where we were when we talking about, "Wouldn't it be wonderful?" It was about 2008, [ambulatory] care was growing, it was starting to grow, but she was the one and only [ambulatory] care pharmacist in her system, I was the only [one] in my system, and we thought about how do we find others, how do we help others? So we developed it, we changed the name...NEIAP worked out well,...I'm really, really proud of the fact that for the last 20 years we have continued to do programming since 2008 We have monthly programming, we have networking events, we have a spectacular executive board of just amazing ambulatory care pharmacists that donate their time to do these pro, do these programs to work on things that are going to help other pharmacists.

In 2010, Laura Bogdanski unfortunately passed away, and...whenever I'm with NEIAP, or talking about NEIAP, the legacy that she has left, and I think she would be so proud to see where the organization that we started sitting outside in California at a mid-year meeting, that it came to fruition, and 20 years later, here we are, and it's still here. We have over 200 members, hopefully it's going to continue to expand, and that includes fellows, residents, and people who want to move into ambulatory care and just continue with the relationship building in this continued education.

So, I hope we have a wonderful showing in September. It will be an outstanding event in Boston, and I know she'll be looking down on us.